Thursday, November 1, 2007

Police in Ontario have cancelled an Amber Alert after a newborn baby who went missing from St. Joseph's hospital in Sudbury on Thursday was recovered.

Sudbury Police on Thursday night said the baby was healthy and was being assessed at a hospital in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, near Sudbury.

The 19-year-old woman who allegedly took the baby girl has been arrested and is facing abduction charges.

"There was interaction between herself and the mother of the child. While in the room with the mother and the baby, while the mother was distracted, the suspect managed to leave with the child," he said.

The woman walked away from the hospital and may have used public transit to get away, police said. Local transit was delayed for a short period while police looked for the baby.

Police also set up road checks along highways leading out of Sudbury. Some 100 officers were taking part in the road checks and were searching all vehicles leaving the city.

The hospital also increased security checks after the baby went missing. No one was allowed to enter or leave the hospital for a few hours.

Dozens of police officers in this northern Ontario city were on the hunt Thursday for a woman who was seen on a surveillance video apparently abducting a day-old baby girl from a local hospital.

Police issued an Amber Alert for the newborn shortly after she was reported missing from the St. Joseph's Health Centre site of Sudbury Regional Hospital at about 1 p.m.

An Amber Alert is issued when police believe a child has been abducted and may be in danger.

Sudbury police held a news conference Thursday afternoon and expressed concern about the woman's psychological state.

"There's no question, any time an infant is taken at that age, that the infant is in extreme danger," said police Chief Ian Davidson. "We implore her, if she's watching, or anyone else that has any information, to call 911 right away.

"The assumption is that she still is in possession of the infant. We're hoping she has not panicked and placed the baby somewhere that would make it difficult to locate the baby."

The girl's family is "extremely distraught and is under medical care," he said.

"We don't believe the suspect was known to the mother. There may have been some contact between the woman and the family."

An image from a hospital surveillance camera shows the unidentified woman carrying what appears to be a swaddled infant. The suspect was apparently wearing white hospital scrubs, and police say that points to a premeditated decision.

"We don't believe she's an employee there," said Const. Bert Lapalme. "The uniform was pretty much to go along with the plan, we suspect."

Police described the woman as aboriginal, five-foot-six, slim and between 26 and 30 years old.

She was wearing white pants, a white V-neck shirt and a black sweater, and had her black hair in a ponytail.

The Caucasian baby has dark hair, bruising on her face, was wearing a white flannel hospital gown, and was wrapped in a white blanket.

The woman is not related to the infant and it is not known why this particular baby was taken, Lapalme said.